Measuring Debtors by Partner with Xero Practice Manager

Although Xero Practice Manager (XPM) does have an invoicing area that integrates payments 'upward' from Xero (blue) at the time of invoice reconciliation, no debtor based reports in XPM are reliable because of the inability of the XPM+Xero integration to handle:

• Pre-payments
• Multi-invoice payments
• Split payments
• Over payments
• Credit notes
• Other variations to a normal reconciliation

This makes the debtors in XPM close to useless for reporting purposes. Xero (blue) is your best source for reliable debtor information. But what can we do to help our Partners chase up their debtors?

XPM Job Categories + Xero Tracking Categories

There is only one method to automate the allocation of a Partner to an invoice in Xero (blue) from XPM. This method assumes that invoices are generated in XPM and pushed through to Xero. Where invoices are generated in Xero first or via a repeating invoice, these will need to be assigned a Partner tracking category. Follow the steps below to implement this in your practice:

1. Set up a Xero Tracking Category 'Partner'
   Xero can hold up to two additional layers of tracking for most transactions. Set up a tracking category called 'Partner' and create as the options in the tracking category the full names of your Partners. If you are already using two tracking categories, you will need to sacrifice/repurpose one to implement this method.
   
   
2. Duplicate your XPM Job Categories for each Partner
   Here is how we recommend setting up job categories in XPM:
   https://support.linkacademy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001220016-Job-Categories-in-XPM
   It is important that we retain the ability to filter out negative WIP for our retainer type engagements. This may mean your new job categories look like this:
   
   Fixed Price Agreement - Partner A
   Billable Fees - Compliance - Partner A
   Billable Fees - Advisory - Partner A
   Fixed Price Agreement - Partner B
   Billable Fees - Compliance - Partner B
   Billable Fees - Advisory - Partner B
   
   Does this mean you will have a long list of Job Categories? Yes. This is one of the costs of automating your debtors reporting by Partner.
   When setting up these job categories, you will see an area called 'Tracking' this relates to the Xero Tracking Categories.
   If you don't see this option, ensure your Xero is integrated first in XPM>Business>Settings>Xero
   Assign each XPM Job Category a Xero Tracking Category. You can ignore 'Internal'. All job categories which will have invoicing will need a Partner tracking category assigned.
   
   
3. Ensure all new and existing jobs are assigned a job category
   Unfortunately there is no way to bulk-update job categories in XPM natively. If you are using FYI you will be able to update job categories this way. For this to work, all active jobs you have right now will need a job category assigned.
   Consider now all the ways jobs are created in your practice. Here are a few:
   + Individually in XPM via 'New Job'
   + In bulk once a year via bulk job import
   + Via Practice Ignition or other connected app
   For each method of job creation, ensure someone is responsible and trained in how to update the job category using your new job categories

That concludes the setup, now for the treats! Once you have applied the above settings, all new invoices generated in XPM flowing in to Xero will have a Partner Tracking Category assigned. You can now run a Accounts Receivable detail report in Xero (blue) filtered by Tracking Category = Partner. This is the most automated method of achieving this result and will allow your partners to manage/follow up their own receivables.

The alternative is for some poor person in accounts to perpetually assign a Partner Tracking Category in Xero (blue) for all new invoices to achieve the same result.